Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and a former local school board member, released the following statement in response to President Trump signing an Executive Order barring federal funding from schools and universities with COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
“This continues to show that President Trump and Secretary Kennedy are just straight-out pro-sickness. It is entirely unconscionable, and unethical. Vaccine requirements are not new, nor are the exceptions that have long existed. Schools and states decide their vaccine policies, often after consulting public health officials, and should never be asked to sacrifice student safety for federal funding. This executive order undermines confidence in the COVID vaccine, and this fact-free, anti-vaccine policy, along with Republicans’ full endorsement of a vaccine skeptic as our nation’s top health official, will dangerously turbocharge distrust in lifesaving vaccines across the board—despite all the evidence showing they are safe. Let’s also be clear: an administration that talks a big game about empowering local communities to make decisions for themselves is now creating a sweeping and dangerous new mandate—telling every school in America to pick between funding to keep teachers on the job and keeping students safe.”
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